Saw this horse on-line. 17H, 4 year old Dutch. They are pitching him as a dressage/hunter prospect (very, very lightly started over crossrails). Thoughts on conformation?
Edited to include video -
Flat/Dressage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOoAY3X5r0
Short Over Fences - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9II…ature=youtu.be
I am by no means an expert, so I will be curious to see what more expert eyes than mine see. He is a cute and attractive horse. Yet, there seems to be something wonky in the hind end. It could just be the photos or how he is standing. He seems to have a very steep croup, and to toe out behind, with some assymetrical development in the rear. His tail seems to go to the left in the rear shot, which again, could just be a moment in time in the photo, or how he is standing, but might be a signal for some rear end issue.
I’m not liking him behind. He seems camped out behind in both side shots. Some things you can attribute to immaturity but skeletal angles in hip, hock and fetlock don’t remodel. If you want a horse to be able to rock back and power off the ground to jump 3’ and up staying sound doing it? Really don’t want to see this in a prospect. These often have less then ideal lead changes too, can’t really reach up and under behind, could limit stride too for the same reason. Could tell more with video of it trotting, much you cannot tell from still shots.
Toe out behind is not a huge deal depending on degree, it’s a result of being base wide, which is preferable to toed in-base narrow. Most horses are slightly one or the other but it should be symmetrical, this appears to toe out more on the left then right. Again, need to see it moving from both sides, front and back to tell much about possible limitations as far as jumping or rocking back to collect in more advanced Dressage.
He is cute, nicely presented, good weight and condition.
I am hesitant to post an in-depth analysis because from the wording it seems like a privately for-sale horse over a publicly posted listing (like CANTER, etc) but for a only lightly started 4 y/o, that is too much SI scarring for my preference - which looks to me to be caused by his steep croup and very open hock and straight stifle. One thing I do not personally do in a horse is straight legs & steep croup. Recipe for stifle & suspensory maladies IME.
If you don’t have a good SI, you don’t have a rideable or sound horse. I would continue looking.
Thank you for input. Just to confirm, the horse was listed publicly, but I have not seen him in person. These photos are taken off of a public site.
Very attractive front end.
Currently the HQ is light in muscling and power comparatively - not unusual given the horse’s age. Topline is also not muscled.
17hh is quite large and this horse is leggy… for long term soundness a big horse needs to be very well built, I am prejudiced against them.
I don’t see too straight hocks, but the femur looks a bit short proportionally.
Didn’t go online to see any ad, just going off the pix. I never buy horses off still pix anyway: video, please if you want to judge a horse to do more than go on the line in breed classes.
Circling back around on this post, since Ive continued looking, but this horse has really stuck in my mind. I found two recent videos on-line. If you see the original post, I was concerned about his hind end confirmation. Thoughts on movement?
Flat/Dressage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOoAY3X5r0
Short Over Fences - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9II8uZIxtI&feature=youtu.be
He is a very attractive horse. And on first look you want to love him.
But I agree with the hind end assessment of others, and the conformational slights show up in the video; while he has a lovely over track at the walk, his natural way of going does not allow him to track up, much less over track at the trot and the canter. But, he is young and has not had the training to strengthen his hind end, so his way of going has a good chance of significant improvement. However, it would not be his natural way of going so the stress might not allow him to stay sound.
The thing that I like the least is that he is not muscled the same on both sides of his hind quarters. He has less muscle on the left side. This might be fixable by several chiropractic sessions, but it should be considered at the PPE.
He does have a slight goose rump, which I do not necessarily mind. The only problem with having one is that the legs are attached in a less than ideal way. But a picture is only one moment in time. In the second picture, when his left hind is underneath him he stands sickle-hocked. The right hind is camped out, so it is hard to tell much of anything.
He has a cute jump and seems to be a really good fellow, given that he takes off long and still centers his arc. He is certainly a saleable horse, depending on the price and the goals of the buyer. I disagree with Find8 that, at 3’, he needs to “really power off the ground”. 3’ is the height for a pre-greenie. It is sad if horses have become so much less athletic that the need to power off the ground comes into play at such a low height.
He will do well in lower level dressage, but by 2nd level his natural inability to really “sit down” and overstep will begin to be a detriment.
He looks like he could make a nice 3’ horse, based on the one jump. But he will need hind end maintenence earlier, rather than later.
If the price was right, I would certainly take a chance on him.
He’s quite attractive and that’s one good, strong rider on him, wish more sale videos were as high quality as these. It’s an honest view too. Horse looks to have had had considerable Pro handling, not all that Green and he may not be as easy as he looks.
What do you want to with him and where does he fall in your budget range?
That left hind stays toed out when he moves which adds stress to the joints and I don’t see a very big step here or anything that’s going to change with that, they don’t grow into another foot of stride.If you just want a fun horse and don’t plan to work seriously over fences of increasing some size requiring a bigger step or move up the Dressage levels? He might be OK but might be harder to resell if you needed to, especially as increasing mileage starts to create some wear and tear.
Mistake to fall in love off a very well produced picture of a horse working under what looks like a Professional Dressage rider. Often what you see is not going to be what you get when you change the surroundings, routine and rider. Don’t forget you need to click with whatever you buy as a rider, your skill set needs to match what the horse needs. No idea how accomplished you are, only you know that…but that’s one accomplished rider in the video.
Not a conformation expert but interested in learning. Does anyone else think his hind end looks too short for his body? I mean hip to point of buttock length.
How funny, I have a horse named Remi who is also Danish and is built similarly!
Neck is a bit long for my taste, it makes them harder to put together. While I don’t think the hind end is awful, he’s probably not going to win in the hack as he is currently. If you buy him you should be prepared to deal with the possibility that even with training he may never stride up. Sometimes it gets 100% better and sometimes not much changes with training.
It’s really all about what you think you can live with. Is this horse supposed to be your future A/O hunter champion or will you be okay to go around locally or switch disciplines of it doesn’t suit him?
The horse is sickle hocked which give him that “German shepherd” movement.
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